The convenience afforded by the use of infra-red (IR) remote controllers to control a wide range of audio-visual (A/V) equipment has made remote controllers ubiquitous. The majority of A/V consumer electronics devices, such as televisions, stereo receivers, CD-ROM changers, analog and digital set-top boxes, and VCRs, are sold with infra-red (IR) remote controllers. These remote controllers often include a completely redundant set of controls and interface elements that are included on the main housing of these devices. Some devices, such as televisions, include only a minimal set of control features on the main device, with the majority of control features on the remote controllers. Additionally, many portable and mobile audio-visual devices, such as portable video cameras and CD-ROM players, and car stereos, are also provided with remote controllers.
The multitude of remote controllers that accumulate in the household audio-visual center has driven the development of universal remote controllers, which are programmable modal devices that eliminate the need to switch from one remote controller to another when operating an A/V system that consists of multiple discrete devices. Therefore, in many situations, the use of the remote controllers that have been included with a specific electronic device is limited.
There is also inefficiency in creating redundant control function hardware and computer processing sub-systems, such as keypad scanning sub-systems, which adds cost to the electronic device. As consumer electronics is a highly price competitive market, device manufacturers are motivated to reduce the bill of materials of a given device, enabling either higher profit margin or a reduced price to the end user.
What is needed is providing a remote controller function without the redundancy of including two complete sets of interface elements in an electronic device.